The Freedom Fighter Chronicles
by dragonslayer627
Summary: My version of the story of the freedom fighters.
1. Chapter 1

I awoke to the chilly morning air, the memories of my dreams still lingering. I climbed out of bed, pulled my boots on, then sulked over to the doorway to get a peek outside. It was nothing out of the ordinary, kids running frantically around their tree house, the older kids playing pranks on each other, but something seemed…. Wrong. The air held the scent of smoke, and I knew that wasn't a good sign. Apparently, nobody else seemed to notice.

Despite my unease, I sauntered over to the mess hall, where I knew the team would be meeting for today's mission. As I approached the table, it appeared that people were arguing.

"Jet, I'm telling you, it's not going to work. We don't have a person small enough to do that, and we're not sending the Duke in. It's too dangerous. Just give up already."

Jet snorted in annoyance. "Why not? We'll be right behind him. He won't even be noticed, Sneers."

I sat down in a nearby chair, listening intently to the conversation.

"No. He's not going." Pipsqueak boomed as he stood up. "We can't risk losing anyone else."

The Duke climbed onto his shoulder. "Don't I get a say in this?" he whined.

Before anyone could answer, a blood curdling scream ripped through the trees. I ran to the edge of the platform, and looked down. "Another fire nation slave caravan." Jet hissed beside me. My attention turned back to the gruesome sight: the fire nation soldiers beating a few kids to a pulp. The urge to help kept tugging at me, but Jet held me down.

"No. Too many soldiers." Was all he said.

_But we have to do something._

"I know. And we will. Just not now. Wait till they're distracted." Jet stated. It didn't make me happy, but he was the leader.

I was about to gaze at something else, when something caught my eye. A girl, around my age, was slowly sneaking back into the trees, as if she was trying to get away.

_Don't. They'll see you._

I wish my message could have gone through. Before she knew it, they had spotted her. A few soldiers started shouting at her, while others ran over to her. They grabbed her and started dragging her back, the girl kicking and screaming. She got in a few lucky kicks. In a rage, one of the soldiers conjured up a whip with his fire bending. As the whip struck her petite body, she didn't scream. She didn't even wince.

I was at my limit now. I guess Jet was too, because as soon as I stood up, he barked the orders to attack. "Now! While they're distracted!" Jet shouted.

I leaped onto a nearby tree with low branches, and climbed down to where I could get a good shot. I notched my bow, aimed, fired, and repeated, until every last soldier was dead.


	2. Chapter 2

The bastards had it coming, but if you had asked me five minutes ago if I was expecting an army of kids to pop out of nowhere, obliterate the fire nation soldiers, then offer a home for us, I would have killed you on the spot for being WAY past insane.

I was bearing the pain of the lashings, not fighting back (I had learned that the hard way), when suddenly, I hear a battle cry. Then, kids fall from the sky, mismatched weapons and armor, and attack the soldiers. I took that as a cue to start fighting.

All around, it was kid on soldier, fighting to the death. Normally, it would have entertained me.*sigh* If only I wasn't fighting for my life in the middle of it.

When the fight was over, I took in the whole jist of things. Dead bodies were everywhere, most of them fire nation.

How a bunch of kids took out the ruthless fire nation swine single-handedly, I don't have a clue. But I was glad.

Unexpectedly, a guy in a hat fell from the trees RIGHT in front of me. Startled, I jumped and fell backwards. Onto a smelly, dead body. The guy held out a hand for me and had a look on his face that said: _Sorry. Probably shouldn't have done that._

I accepted his hand, which was surprisingly gentle. He pulled me up and offered me his shawl to wipe off all the blood.

"No thanks. I don't want to mess it up." I said.

He nodded, and tied it around his shoulders again. He pointed to another guy his age, who had a piece of wheat in his mouth, then started walking towards him. I decided to follow.

"-and take that stuff back to the hideout." The wheat guy said. He turned when he heard us approach. "Longshot, who's this?" he asked when he saw me.

The guy in the hat, Longshot, put his hand on my shoulder, but said nothing.

"Uh, Longshot, she's a girl. No."

Longshot's grip tightened.

"We'll talk about this later. Right now we need to scavenge whatever we can find and take it back to the hideout. Go ahead and take her and the others there."

Longshot nodded, and motioned for me to follow.

LATER

After taking in the amazing network of tree houses, myself and the group of kids were directed to the mess hall, where we would have dinner. We sat around a bonfire, which I didn't understand, since it was nighttime now and it would be easy to spot. I didn't question it though. I was too busy inhaling my plate of food. There's something about a battle that makes you forget that you haven't eaten in two days.

Besides the idle chatter, the night was actually pretty quiet. Its been a while since I've not had to deal with screaming children.

I overheard a conversation about defeating the soldiers, and decided to join in. "Those weaklings. Killed by a bunch of kids. It was almost boring, slitting their throat." I snickered.

"If they're such weaklings, then how come you weren't able to kill them before?" the boy called Jet teased.

I felt my cheeks get hot. "I-I would've. If only you hadn't barged in." I stammered.

"As if a girl could actually kill a horde of fire nation soldiers." He teased again.

Curse my temper. "Don't treat me like I'm weak. I'm not helpless, you know. I don't see your countless scars from countless whippings and beatings!" I jumped up, then shouted at him. He looked a little surprised. Well, a lot surprised, actually.

He threw his hands up in surrender. "Okay, okay. You're not weak."

"Then can I join your gang of fighters? I heard someone talking about it earlier." I asked.

Jet laughed. "No way. I'm not about to let a girl fight." That statement got him a glare from longshot, and suddenly, I wondered why that silent kid took so much interest in me.

"Sorry, girlie." Jet mocked.

I groaned, and decided that my skills weren't enough. They would always see me as a girl. I unsheathed my knife, walked over to the fire, and ran the knife though my hair. As it fell into the fire, I started to regret it a little. I reached up and felt the back of my head. My hair was now at the level of my ears, choppy and uneven. I decided to finish the look with some matching bangs. I could smell the no longer attached hair burning in the fire.

I stomped over to the others, ignored the gasps, and sat down with a huff.

"Wh-what did you do?" one kid asked.

"Scruffy and short. Just like a guy. Maybe it will help you see me not so much as a girl, but as someone who wants revenge on the fire nation."

"You really want to fight, don't you?" Jet questioned.

"I don't think I can make it any more obvious."

He pondered my statement for a moment, until finally, "Okay. Fine. But first you have to prove that you really have skill." He stood up. "Fight me. Beat me, and I'll let you in. That's a fair deal, isn't it Sneers?"

The one called sneers looked up, and it was obvious that he wasn't paying attention. "Yeah. Sure. Whatever." Sneers said, then went back to wolfing down his food.

"Okay. Deal." I said, then got to my feet.

Longshot was staring at me in concern. _Be careful, _his eyes seemed to say.

I nodded, then turned my attention back to Jet.

He swung a punch, which I easily blocked. "Not bad, girlie."

Making me mad in a fight was not a good idea. My eyes widened, and in a flash, I rolled forward, knocked him off his feet, and pinned him to the ground, my knee on his neck.

He stared at me in shock. "Ummm…. How bout two out of three?" he grinned.

I could hear people laughing behind me. "Come on Jet, she's only a girl!" The giant said.

Now, I was really about to explode. "You get up, and this time, don't hold back." I said to Jet through gritted teeth.

Round two. Jet retrieved his hook swords. "This time, with weapons. What would you prefer?"

"Dual daggers." I replied.

"Interesting choice. Two dual weapon fighters battling." Jet smiled. "Sneers, loan her your daggers. "

Sneers tossed me two curved daggers. They were unbalanced and uncomfortable in my hands, but I didn't mind.

"Are you ready?" Jet asked.

"Heck yeah." I flashed an evil grin.

"Ladies first."

"It will be my pleasure."

I lunged at him, and he blocked it, as expected. I ran though my battle strategy in my head, and decided to change it up a bit. I ran towards him, and pretended to kick him. Instead, I used his foot as a kickboard. I flew over him in a flip, landed gracefully, and held a knife to his back.

"Looks like you lose again." I teased.

"H-how?! How did you beat me? TWICE?!" Jet exclaimed, the wheat in his mouth bobbing up and down.

"Maybe it's because you're just not as good as you think you are, wheatie." I smiled in triumph as I walked away, spinning and sheathing the daggers as I went.

I started to hand the daggers to sneers, but he shook his head. "Keep them. They'll be of more use to you than me." He stood up. "Welcome to the team." He held out a hand for me to shake.

Pipsqueak, the giant, came over and ruffled my hair. "Good job-uh, you know, you never gave us your name."

I hadn't really thought about that. "Ummm….. I don't really have one."

"What do you mean? How did the soldiers address you?" the kid on the giant's shoulders asked.

I sighed and held out my arm. "I am known as 1293948B." I showed them my branding.

They all frowned, especially Longshot.

"Oh. Well, we'll just have to give you a new name." the kid said.

"Good idea, the Duke." Pipsqueak said.

Jet appeared behind me, looking more down than he was earlier. I guess that was because I gave him a good beating. "we'll figure it out tomorrow."

Sneers suddenly gasped, as if he remembered something. "She's small enough to fit."

"What?" I asked.

"Of course!" Jet exclaimed.

Longshot interrupted the new plans forming, shaking his head. _It's too dangerous for her, too._

"So? She's proven herself." Sneers said. Longshot glared at him.

"Whatever it is, as long as I get to kill some fire nation soldiers, I'll do it." I stated.


End file.
